Nearly 20 Percent Of US Population On Food Stamps

The total number of Americans receiving food stamps rose to 47.1 million in August, the biggest increase in more than a year.

In August alone, 420,863 new people joined the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), a 2.86 percent increase in year-over-year statistics, reported the Christian Science Monitor.

The 47.1 million SNAP participants is 19.33 percent of the American population, and was a 1.3 percent increase from the preceding month, with 22.68 million households benefitting from the program.

“Too many middle-class families who have fallen on hard times are still struggling,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement in September. “Our goal is to get these families the temporary assistance they need so they are able to get through these tough times and back on their feet as soon as possible.”

The program’s cost in August was $6.28 billion, a roughly 2.51 percent increase year-over-year.

A report from the Congressional Budget Office in April said that SNAP usage was expected to continue to increase through 2014, when the number of Americans using food stamps would begin to decline.